Awnings for recreational vehicles,-particularly camper-type recreational vehicles, are common and are used on outings by campers, picnickers, hikers, etc. Most of those awnings are attached or attachable to sides of vehicles, and are typically contained cylindrical housings, wherein the tarp is wound within the housing and is unwound and anchored opposite the vehicle when in use. The housings are necessarily bulky, due to the winding apparatus and space needed within the housing, as well as the extra bulk provided by the housing itself. Further, exterior support or tent poles needed for exterior support are typically lost because they are not included within the housing package. Further, the structures, because the mechanisms employed, break down, are complicated to assemble and are expensive to manufacture.
There exists a need for awnings that are universal for nearly all passenger vehicles, and recreational vehicles, which are of simple construction and can thus be manufactured cheaply, which can be assembled easily and have no mechanical parts to malfunction, and which can be self-contained within a relatively small package for portability without taking valuable space on outings.